//------------------------------//
// 69 — Fixing Things 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

Dumbledore looked at her for a moment, thinking. “It’s behind a fidelius charm, at the moment. You do know what that is, correct?”

She nodded, listening attentively while Dash drifted around the room like an enormous, lost, blue butterfly.

“That’s why I haven’t named the artefact. As the secret keeper, if I told you I had the artefact, then I would be disclosing the secret to all of you. Hence, my circumspect descriptions of the item.

“However, he knows about the artefact, and that he used to know where it was, but now he doesn’t. When I cancel the fidelius, he’ll remember it is here. All he remembers right now is that I have hidden something that he is very interested in having, and that I am working on a set of obstacles that will lead to it. He’s waiting until I am finished. He has waited ten years, what’s a few more months?”

She nodded. “That makes sense.” She worried her lower lip with her teeth. “So, he knows what the item is, and that it used to be at Gringotts. He knows you have it, but because of the fidelius, he can’t force you to give up the secret of exactly where it is at. He also knows that you are preparing a series of obstacles that will lead to it, and that therefore you will be removing it from its secret place at some point in time. But he doesn’t dare act early, because you might simply leave the item hidden and fort-up Hogwarts to prevent him from using any students as hostages.”

“Yes,” said Dumbledore happily, “you’ve got it.”

Applejack looked at them and said, “Honey, all I’m getting is a headache.”

Dash snickered from overhead, “I stopped listening when Twi said it was brilliant.”

Pinkie Pie was standing high up on the wall to their left, looking at the torch.

Rarity just shook her head.


۸- ̫ -۸


Castor leaned back in his chair. “So, based on what you’ve said, I think we should first take a look at Beretta Gallery to give you an idea of what we’re talking about. They offer both pistols and rifles. Then we should go to the army training facility at Bassingbourn, tomorrow, where we can run you through the basic safety training course and you can get familiar with the weapons.”

He took a deep breath. “I do have to say, though, that it is highly unlikely that you will ever need such a weapon. In England, only about seven percent of all the police officers have even received training in handling firearms, be it pistol, rifle, or shotgun. And, from personal experience since I became an officer, I can honestly say I have never needed a firearm of any sort, nor ever felt the desire to have one with me. Nor have any of the officers I know.”

“The number of people killed with a gun last year were less than eleven percent of all homicides in England, just sixty-one people. Out of over 150,000 crimes and fifty million plus people. To tell the truth, almost twice as many people died from drowning while swimming than from guns.

“That being said, I do see why you might want some familiarity with these weapons. For you, it’s a new and unknown risk factor. Doing this will give you an understanding of their uses and limitations. Something that a movie, where the directors use artistic-license to make things appear more dramatic, can’t do.”

He looked at the two women. “Are either of you a unicorn?”

Agent Heartstrings, nodded. “I am.”

“Can you stop things thrown at you?”

The two exchanged puzzled looks.

“I mean, well, for example, if someone threw a rock at you and you couldn’t dodge it, what would you do?”

Lyra shrugged, “Put up a shield spell.”

“Ah! So such a thing exists?”

“Yes.”

“Can you extend it to cover something else, like,” he looked around the room. “Like put a shield over that window from where you are sitting?”

She frowned. “Yes, but the farther away it is, the harder it is to do.”

“Good, then when we are at the range tomorrow, we can test your shield against gunfire. I’m sure you would like to know if such a thing would work should you ever get in a situation where someone was shooting at you.”

They both nodded.

He looked at his watch. “Well, we missed lunchtime. How about we get something to eat, and then drop by the Beretta Gallery?”

“Oooh! That sounds wonderful!” said Agent Drops. “I wonder what desserts they’ll have!”

“And I can practice using these,” Agent Heartstrings said, holding up her hands and wriggling her fingers, staring at them with an eager expression.

“And I can put in a call to my office so they can warn the shooting range to expect us tomorrow.”


۸- ̬ -۸


Princess Sparkle looked around the room pensively. A scroll and quill flew out of her saddlebags and started making notes. “Pinkie Pie,” she said, “Would you please carve these into the corners of the walls, floor, and ceiling? They will seal the room to anything trying to magically cross them.”

“Okey dokey lokey!” Pinkie Pie said cheerfully as she ran down the wall to snatch the list, and then ran off to a far corner.

“The runes will take a few days to get to full power. When Pinkie finishes, I’ll give them a partial charge to start.”

“Done!” Pinkie said, and handed the list back to the purple alicorn.

They all jumped and stared at her.

The Princess opened her mouth to say something, but stopped, and simply said, “Thank you, Pinkie.”

She looked at the wizards and witch, who were staring at Pinkie dumbfounded. “Don’t even try to figure it out. One of the worst days of my life was trying to figure Pinkie Pie out.”

Pinkie grinned happily.

Dumbledore felt a powerful surge around them as the princess frowned and her horn glowed ever-so-lightly. They went back out to the next room.

Twilight studied the door carefully, then drew some runes on it with her hoof. The door shimmered and disappeared, now looking just like the rest of the wall behind it. She looked back at Severus. “He’ll not get a clue to where the door is when he comes in. Make those black flames cover the entire wall.” She handed the scroll to Pinkie, again. “Could you do the walls, ceiling, and floor, again?”

She walked to the table of potions. “It’s good that you can’t detect which potion does what, but I still think you should make all these sleeping potions.” She sighed and headed to the door to the room with the troll. She paused only to send out a pulse of magic when Pinkie Pie once more declared she was “Done!”

The small corridor between the rooms was quickly protected, as well. There would be no sneaking into the spaces between the obstacles and trying to skip ahead. And the doors were protected from magical attack and destruction. Or at least from any attack that wouldn’t also destroy a good portion of the rooms.

The troll’s room received the same treatment, except she had Pinkie draw some runes on the bottom of the troll’s feet while she held the troll still. “Those runes make the troll almost impervious to magic as long as he is in this room.” She clearly strained to hold the troll still as Pinkie finished the last rune. “Hurry,” she called as they darted through the door, and closed it only moments before the troll slammed into it.

In Minerva’s room, after the princess reinforced the walls, she said to the professor, “Make the chess pieces impervious to outside magical movement and blasts. And put up anti-flying charms. Make him work to get across the room. Maybe even give the bishops and knights crossbows as well as spears, so they don’t have to get close to attack anyone trying to sneak across the board.”

Then came the next room.

She stared at the flying keys while Pinkie Pie darted around. She sighed. “I hope this doesn’t work,” she said. She concentrated. A few seconds later, every key in the room was at her feet. Except for one lone key flitting about. She looked at Filius. “I summoned every key that would respond, reasoning you would put the anti-summoning charm only on the one key that opened the door.” Filius nodded stoically.

“Perhaps leave him the pieces of the brooms, so he has to assemble a broom to catch the keys. And the keys could attack him while he is occupied in doing that.”

In the vines room, she walked over and stared at the small plant. She took a deep breath and a glow surrounded both her and the vines. She remained unmoving for several moments, then staggered back. She took a few deep breaths, then looked up at the ceiling. She nodded to herself and pulled out another scroll and made some notes on it. “Dash? Would you draw these runes on each surface at the corners of the room?”

“Yes!  Finally! Something to do. I was falling asleep here.” She grabbed the scroll and shot up to the ceiling. Twilight turned to Pinkie, “And would you carve the sealing runes in the corners, as you did in the other rooms?”

“Oh, boy!” she said enthusiastically, “A race!” She darted to the first corner so fast she was a blur.

Princess Sparkle turned to Dumbledore. “I changed the vines so that now they seek magic, but avoid the sun. And all the surfaces in here will have a tiny magical glow because of those runes I gave Dash.”

Dumbledore exchanged astonished looks with his friends. She had magically altered the vines in under a minute? He was unaware of any spells that could do that without a great deal of time and effort — as in months or years of work. Pomona would be beside herself when she heard about this.

“Oh, and their fruit now tastes like cherries and is rich in Vitamin C and D. Might as well make the silly things useful for something.”

“Cherry chimachangas are the best!” Pinkie Pie declared from behind them.

Dumbledore heard a faint rustling and looked around to see what had made the noise. The vines reached out towards him, and the others, in spite of the flames coming from their wands. He thought a moment, and the light from his wand changed from that of a bright candle to match that of the sun. The vines twisted and turned, but came no closer.

A few minutes later, they all once more stood beside the sleeping Fluffy.

Pinkie flitted about, once more doing a job impossibly fast, with Dash excitedly racing her along the ceiling. This room had far more corners than the others did.

“Come along, Fluttershy,” the Princess called out as they headed back into the corridor. Fluttershy, naturally, had been petting the Cerberus as he slept.

Outside in the corridor, the princess turned to Dumbledore.

“I really don’t like the presence of either this artefact or this dark wizard you think is going to try to get it. Do you know who that wizard is?”

“Alas, no Princess, I do not. I have suspicions, but no real evidence. I believe he is currently staying in Hogsmeade, hiding. And that he will try to slip into Hogwarts sometime soon. And definitely when I remove the fidelius.”

Twilight stared up at the ceiling in exasperation. “And we just sent the entire student population into Hogsmeade where he could snatch a student and use polyjuice to sneak into the Castle. And once in the dorm, he could imperius his dorm-mates to ignore whatever he does.” She sighed.

“Except,” Dumbledore said, “He knows that the item he wants is still unavailable. It would benefit him nothing to do anything now. And the risks involved in keeping up the charade long enough for me to finish the traps and remove the fidelius outweigh the gain he might get from being a student inside Hogwarts the entire time before I do so.”

“I should remove Harry and the fillies, immediately.” She paused a moment, worrying her lower lip.

Dumbledore kept his expression bland, smiling slightly. From what he had seen today, if she wanted to take Harry with her, there was bloody little he could do to prevent it.

“However, this wizard is not yet in Hogwarts and the artefact, in itself, is innocuous. Knowing he cannot get the artefact until you remove the fidelius, he should be patient. And as long as he is outside of Hogwarts, then Harry and the girls are safe.” She grimaced. “Well as safe as the Cutie Mark Crusaders ever are.” 

Rarity and Applejack both snorted while Dash giggled. 

She sighed. “I will allow them to remain here until you either suspect or decide that this dark wizard has somehow made his way into Hogwarts. At that point, I will remove Harry and the fillies until this wizard is dealt with.”

“That seems reasonable. As long as the wizard thinks I am working to finish the obstacles, he will remain patient.”

She stared at him, frowning. “Unless he is stupid, he knows you’re building a trap for him. After all, if you merely wanted to keep it hidden, you would never remove the fidelius.”

“Yes, that is quite true. However, if he thought I was going to permanently leave it hidden away, then he would set up a hostage situation where I would have to choose between keeping the secret or letting students die.”

He smiled condescendingly, “That’s why Gringotts was such a good hiding place for so long. They could not be blackmailed by such tactics into giving up the artefact. They wouldn’t care how many died, either wizards or goblins, the vault would remain closed.”

She stared at him a moment. “Why didn’t this Flamel cast the fidelius on the item in the vault?”

Dumbledore shrugged. “I’m sure Gringotts wouldn’t have allowed him to perform that magic.”

She rolled her eyes. “Goblin, my friend, I have something in this chest,” she held her hooves about shoulder-width apart, “that has a fidelius cast on it, please put it in one of your most secure vaults.”

Dumbledore stared at her, then said, “I don’t know why he didn’t do that.”

The princess sighed and looked down briefly, shaking her head.

Dumbledore said. “No matter. Now that it had been moved, the wizard had to figure another way to the artefact. He knew that one of my staff had just removed the item and probably brought it here. My actions here, regarding the obstacles here in Hogwarts, assured him that I had, indeed, secured the item. 

“He thinks he can easily beat my obstacles and acquire the artefact without revealing that Voldemort is trying to return to life. Thus he is patient.”

She gave him a dark look. “And, as I demonstrated, he was more than correct about the obstacles, right?”

Dumbledore cleared his throat, “Yes, quite so.” He shifted slightly, embarrassed. “However, I do not believe he has mastered the spell for walking through walls. I certainly have never heard of such a spell, myself. And your runes have rendered that moot, now, anyway. And without your spell, he shall have to solve each obstacle.”

She snorted and turned back to the door, now closed and several yards behind them. Her horn glowed for a moment. “There. I have placed an age-line across this end of the corridor. No one under the age of fifty can pass it to even get to the door and unlock it to see Fluffy.”

She cut her eyes over to look at Dumbledore. “I wonder why you never thought to use it? It seems like such an easy answer to keeping the students out.”

He felt his face burn, “Sometimes it takes an outsider to spot the obvious.”

“Yes. Indeed,” she said. “I have had to learn that lesson myself. And I still occasionally forget.” She looked at her friends with a smile. Rainbow Dash was smiling back and buffing a hoof on her chest smugly. The others merely returned her smile. “Yes,” the Princess murmured, “friends are a great help.”

She sighed and looked back at the wizards and witch. “And then there are the windows.” She frowned. “With the easy availability of flying on broomsticks, I imagine some students might try to sneak in that way. Or maybe even your bad wizard might do that. So, maybe you should spell the windows to not open, be unbreakable, and give you an alarm. And to block anyone from looking in, either.”

Dumbledore nodded. Oh yes, that was certainly a possibility. Voldemort’s minion could by-pass his first alarm simply by opening a window.

She watched him, then added, “Perhaps you should consult with others a bit more frequently?”

“Yes, mayhaps I shall.” He paused a moment, thinking. “Well,” he said briskly, “I believe we should make our way to the gates. Skiffy!”

“Skiffy be here!” came the immediate response.

“Would you inform the professors that the gates will be opening soon and to begin sending the students back to Hogwarts? Dinner will take place in the Great Hall, at the same time as usual, which will be less than an hour, I believe. And tell the other house-elves that they may return as soon as the wizards or witches they are helping no longer need their assistance. And tell Hagrid to wait until I am there before opening the gates.”

The house-elf didn’t even reply, he just disappeared.

“Speaking of which,” the princess said, “In view of the possibility the bad wizard might be a bit more desperate than you think, every student should be checked for any liquids they might be carrying, and what those liquids are. We wouldn’t want anyone to smuggle in a quantity of polyjuice while under an imperius.” She frowned. “Is there a spell to detect when someone is under the imperius? We should do that, as well.”

He cocked his head slightly sideways. “For polyjuice, indirectly, yes. I will stand at the gates myself and do so. A simple spell will reveal any liquids. For the imperius, no one has devised such a spell, yet.”

The furrow in her brow grew deeper, and she worried her lower lip with her teeth. “Can you cast it on me? I want to see what it does.” A scroll and quill flew from her saddlebags. The quill started taking notes.

The wizards exchanged looks.

“It is normally a forbidden curse,” Dumbledore said. He stood a moment, thinking. “But I do have many witnesses that you requested it.” He glanced around at them smiling. “I will cast a weak version.”

He lifted his wand and said, “Imperio!”

She looked at him curiously.

“Could you cast it on Fluttershy?”

Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Applejack.

The princess smiled. “Don’t worry, Fluttershy, I don’t know anyone who has a stronger will than you.”

Mumbling her assent almost imperceptibly, the sonorous had finally worn off, the shy pink-haired witch slowly stepped back into view.

Dumbledore again cast the spell.

The purple alicorn stared for several moments, then nodded slowly. “Would you give her a command?”

He nodded, “Miss Fluttershy, pat your head with one hand while rubbing your stomach with the other.”

She tilted her head and said, “Why would I want to do that?”

Twilight nodded again. “Fluttershy? I want you to do what he says, next time. Don’t fight the spell. I want to see it in action, so don’t question it, please?”

Uncertainly, Fluttershy nodded.

Dumbledore again cast the spell and issued his instructions, then watched as the witch did as he had ordered.

“Would you cancel the spell, Headmaster?”

“Finite incantatem.”

The quill continued to scribble for several moments until the Princess smiled.

“Can we try it once more, Headmaster?”

Fluttershy had barely started patting her head when the Princess’ horn glowed purple, and Fluttershy glowed bright green.

Fluttershy stopped what she was doing with a puzzled expression. “What happened?”

Princess Sparkle turned to Dumbledore and had a sheet of paper fly over to him. “Here’s a spell that turns anyone under the imperius a bright-green colour. If the cast spell is stronger than the spell used for the imperius, it cancels it.”

Dumbledore and the professors stared at her in shock. She had just created a spell from scratch.

Still smiling, she said “We will join you at the gates. And you should make yourself invisible. No one will suspect us as we are taking the opportunity to greet our families. You being in sight would be a clear sign that something was suspected.”

They headed for the Castle doors, Dumbledore intently studying the spell described on the paper.

Just as they reached front doors, Dumbledore looked up from the paper. “As we were too busy to have lunch,” he said addressing the Atlanteans, “I believe I would be remiss in not inviting you all to join us for our evening repast.”

The six women exchanged looks and it was obvious they were of the same mind.

“Yes, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,” said Princess Sparkle, “I think I can say we would be delighted to join you.” 

“Oh, I can hardly wait to see Sweetie Belle,” declared Rarity, “It seems like forever since I saw her last week!”

“I know the feelin’, honey,” Applejack said. “The house just feels empty without Apple Bloom’s hooves charging up and down the stairs.”

“And I want to see if Scoots has tried any of my tricks, yet! She’s been telling me about those Quidditch games, here. I wouldn’t mind catching one if I can.”

“There should be some time after dinner.” His eyes were sparkling, again, he knew. “I’m sure one of the other teams could be persuaded into a match against the Pegasi Team.” He handed the paper to Filius. The other two professors looked over his shoulder at the paper.

Dash took off out the doors, leaving behind a fading, rainbow-coloured streak.

“By the way, Princess Sparkle,” Dumbledore said as they descended the steps outside. “The books you loaned to Harry? I would appreciate it if you would not do so in the future without first letting me take a look at the book you’re sending. Some of the spells in this book,” he pulled it out of his pocket and unshrank it, “Spells for Ghosts — If They Were Real, are too advanced for most students here at Hogwarts. And while you undoubtedly thought them harmless, given that there are no ghosts where you came from,” he frowned slightly at that thought — why didn’t they have ghosts in Atlantis? — “here in England many of the spells are considered dangerous and restricted. We are very lucky that the spell they worked on Miss Warren was not a proscribed one that would have landed them in deep trouble.” He sighed, “As it is, I had to spend a considerable amount of time over the last two days soothing worried parents, and the Ministry, telling them that your three charges were not attempting forbidden magics and that they didn’t constitute a threat to the rest of Hogwarts.”

The princess looked abashed and embarrassed. “Yes, I am sorry about that. I was just so excited to hear that there were ghosts here that I didn’t consider what that might mean.”

“Do you mind if I read this book, and the others you sent them? I would very much like to make them available to the other students, or acquire copies for our library, if they are benign enough.”

She looked at him brightly, “Oh, no, go right ahead. In fact, I’ll tell the girls to give you the books for your library when they are finished with them! They are extra copies, after all.”

He nodded, “Thank you very much for your generosity, Princess Sparkle. I look forward to reading the other books. This, though, will have to reside in the library’s restricted section until I can convince the Ministry to allow its general circulation, dealing as it does with returning a ghost to life.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

“I do have one other question about this book, if you don’t mind.” He held up the book, before shrinking and stowing it once more in his pocket.

She looked at him inquisitively.

“Do all of your books come with a sap-repelling spell on them?”


۸- ̫ -۸